Unmanned Aircraft Ground Control System for Automated Date Pollinator

The system, designed in collaboration with teams 18054 and 18056, controls an unmanned aircraft as it flies through a date palm plantation and pollinates the palms. The computational system mounted on the aircraft uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to observe, model and act on its environment to efficiently and safely complete the pollination process. This includes the identification of the palm trees, the command to release pollen, and the detection and avoidance of obstacles. The system provides the date farmers with a modular product capable of pollinating a field of date palm trees in an industrial-scale farming environment. This allows for significant savings by reducing labor costs and the risk of injury during manual pollination.